


Reply 2015

by mangguobing



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Coming of Age, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-09 05:52:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14710322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mangguobing/pseuds/mangguobing
Summary: A story through time about love and friendship between four unlikely friends in the quiet, simple town of Luo Fu.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [请回答2015](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/382430) by Konipark千. 



> This is absolutely one of my favorite 1k fics, I'm really excited to be able to share this translation! If you can, please show send your love and support to the author on lofter by "liking" the post! (the platform is similar to tumblr) This fic has already been completed and will have a total of 14 chapters.
> 
> thank you to daph and dash for cheerleading and beta for this chapter!

01  **If in this life you only lived up to 30 years**

**[<如果一生只有三十岁.>*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjs8aw0IBhE) **

 

When Wang Ziyi came out from the shower, Cai Xukun was lying down on the bed listening to music. Wang Ziyi doesn’t really understand Cantonese but he generally understood that this was a strange song.

“Where do you always find this type of music?”

Cai Xukun didn’t really feel like responding. After Ziyi returned from his business trip, he became abnormally clingy. He clung to Xukun’s waist, wanting to do it again and again. Xukun was sore all over and exhausted but unable to fall asleep.

Wang Ziyi saw that Cai Xukun was ignoring him; this person’s bad temper he knows very well. He tossed the wet towel that he was using to dry his hair and pounced onto the bed. He knelt next to Xukun and took the chance to try and bite him.

Just like a big fluffy golden retriever.

His wet hair dripped everywhere, onto Xukun’s chest and continued down, soaking his pajamas. Wang Ziyi nipped and licked his lips, until Cai Xukun pushed harshly on his chin just so he could catch his breath.

“Wasn’t that a little too much force, you almost dislocated my chin,” Wang Ziyi rubbed at his chin, but obediently sat down to blow dry his hair. “How can one lifetime only be 30 years long? Look at Qin Fen. He’s turning 30 this year and still looking for a partner.”

Qin Fen was like an older brother figure to them. When the both of them were still in high school, Qin Fen was messing around with people in college. When Ziyi and Xukun’s relationship settled down, Qin Fen surprisingly also settled down. He stayed single until he turned 30, making his mother worry so much she couldn’t stand it and signed up for online dating websites in his name.

Cai Xukun, who just finished wiping the water droplets from his neck and chest, laughed, “I’m gonna tattle on you to Fen ge, say that you’re slandering him.”

Wang Ziyi had just cut his hair, so it finished drying quickly. After just a few seconds under the dryer he climbed back onto bed and wrapped himself around Cai Xukun.

“Speaking of Fen ge makes me want to visit Luo Fu. Let’s find a time to go back home for a visit.”

 

 

 

Luo Fu City is a third-tier* small town located in the south.  This city has nothing to do with the Louvre* Museum; in fact, it is just a small town that has no specialty.

There is a road in Luo Fu called Furong Street, the wealthiest place in town. The people that can afford to live in the villas in this area are only richest people in Luo Fu city. There is a boundary that divides Furong street from the neighborhood across from it. The area across is the middle-class housing district of Luo Fu. In actuality, the houses there are not that poor, but since there is an obvious contrast between the two, this area became known as the slums of Luo Fu.

Lu Dinghao happened to live in this middle-class housing area, a native of this neighborhood. Every morning when he got up, he saw the fancy high-rise buildings across the street blocking the sunlight from his room. He would simultaneously brush his teeth while cursing out the rich folks across the street. He swore that sooner or later, he’ll buy a mansion there too.

The curses along with the toothpaste foam on Lu Dinghao’s mouth were both washed down the drain. After, he would grab his breakfast and bid his grandmother farewell before riding his bike to school. This was his normal.

On the other hand, the object of Lu Dinghao’s daily envy included someone named Wang Ziyi. Wang Ziyi had a perfected biological clock, every morning when he got up, his nanny would already be preparing breakfast for him. When he finished washing up, it would be just in time to eat a piping hot breakfast.

But he usually would not eat his breakfast immediately, instead he would wrap it up to-go. Without even properly buttoning his uniform, he would rush out to the house next door and wait on the steps. Then, he would take the time to tidy his uniform and properly wear his clothes. After creating the image of the perfect student and flower boy he was at school, he would finally eat his breakfast sitting on those steps.

Usually it would take three to five minutes for the sloppy looking Cai Xukun to open the door with his school tie casually hanging loose around his neck. Cai Xukun had exceptionally thick hair, he always appeared with poofy bed head every morning. He would drowsily accept the breakfast from Wang Ziyi’s hand. The two of them would stand at the doorway, one quietly eating his breakfast, the other helping him fasten his school tie or fix his hair.

Afterwards, Wangs’ family personal driver would take them to school. This was their normal.

Something that was definitely out of the ordinary was the sudden appearance of Dong Youlin on his bike calling out a loud “Morning!”.

Dong Youlin was Wang Ziyi’s childhood friend, except he moved away to the States with his father when he was 10 years old. Since he just returned from overseas not too long ago, the only person he knew around town was Wang Ziyi. Seeing the image of Wang Ziyi helping Cai Xukun wear his tie was quite strange.

His loud greeting startled Cai Xukun who was currently sipping his milk, sending him into a coughing fit. Wang Ziyi noticed and immediately started patting his back.

Wang Ziyi turned his gaze towards Dong Youlin who was dressed from head to toe in athletic attire, “Don’t you know you’re transferring schools today?”

“I know, that’s why I have to pretend to not know. One less day of wearing that uniform is a good day. Your school’s uniform is so stiff, I’m not use to it.”

“It’s so cold today, let’s take the car and go to school together,” Wang Ziyi took the leftover breakfast that Cai Xukun didn’t want anymore and tossed it in the trash bin.

“Nah, I’m gonna go first,”  Dong Youlin’s bike was extremely fast. Actually, frankly speaking, if you converted the cost of his bicycle, it would probably be expensive enough to buy a small domestic car.

 

 

Lu Dinghao didn’t even have time to finish breakfast, instead he was panting hard and riding his bike against the cold wind just to get to Luo Fu High School. As he approached the school, the Wang family car had just pulled up to the entrance as well. He stared at his two classmates stepping off the car. Lu Dinghao grumpily kicked his bike brake down and thought, “Being rich must be great, you’ll be okay even if you wake up at 8.”

That even rhymes.

Lu Dinghao then felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

“Hey there, I’m a new student here. Do you know how to get to the 11th grade classroom 7?”

Just because Lu Dinghao grew up in the slums of Luo Fu and didn’t have money did not mean he didn’t care about money. In fact, Lu Dinghao was very interested in money. Case in point, just by looking at the person standing in front of him, his clothing, his bike, his shoes, he can already estimate the worth of everything he sees.

_Ah, looks like another lucky rich bastard from across the street._

But of course, Lu Dinghao would never make an enemy of someone rich; especially when his own classroom is the room number 7.

 

 

The scene in class that morning was the same as usual, Wang Ziyi was collecting homework from students, Cai Xukun was sleeping at his desk, a portion of the class was rushing to copy each other’s homework. The class was noisy and hectic. Lu Dinghao led Dong Youlin to the doorway of their classroom when Dong Youlin just realized, “I just remembered, I actually have to go to the front office to sign in first.”

Lu Dinghao was a little dumbfounded, but he still gave him detailed directions to get to the front office. When he finally sat down at his own desk, he realized his breakfast had already gone cold.

_Rich people are as irritating as ever._

 

 

Lu Dinghao’s previous attitude toward the rich was actually okay, until 11th grade when they were divided into different classes based on subjects and he was sent to class number 7. Of all people, he was placed in the same classroom as Wang Ziyi and Cai Xukun.

They are the two most famous people in Luo Fu High. They always came as a pair and went attached at the hip. They always used the newest and most expensive gadgets, living in their two-person bubble that seemed impenetrable by outsiders.

Lu Dinghao often saw them around and felt envious. Of course, even someone like him had a secret crush on Wang Ziyi once upon a time.

Apart from the inexplicable negative feelings he had for the words “wealthy people”, the words “transfer student” also had a particular significance in his life. For example, at 15 years old, the small bud of a crush he had for Wang Ziyi was definitively crushed by the sudden appearance of Cai Xukun. Or even now, at 17 years old, when a transfer student by the name of Dong Youlin became his deskmate.

Ever since Dong Youlin started sitting next to Lu Dinghao in class, a delightful change occurred. Wang Ziyi no longer only orbited around Cai Xukun during class break, instead he sat at the desk in front of Lu Dinghao to stay and chat with Dong Youlin.

January in Luo Fu was damp and cold. Even though Lu Dinghao wore a thick coat that he spent a lot of time saving up to buy, his hands still felt frozen while writing and he shivered a bit.

Actually the reason he was shivering might be due to the fact that he was eavesdropping on Wang Ziyi and his new tablemate’s conversation.

“Tonight after we finish self-study, there is a street dancing competition on Shanglin street. Do you want to go watch it together?” Wang Ziyi asked enthusiastically. The main reason for this is that while he wants to go badly, Cai Xukun is afraid of the cold; if he could stay home he would never come out.

“My mom is nagging me a lot lately, she says since I just came back,she won’t let me go out. She could probably even talk about that Shanghai Stampede* incident from a few days ago and drag it out for half an hour.” When Dong Youlin spoke, he had a soft Taiwanese accent. Lu Dinghao didn’t understand why this person who came from overseas would have such an accent.

Wang Ziyi wanted to say something else, but just then the school bell rang. On the way back to his seat he passed by Cai Xukun and ruffled his hair to rouse him from his nap in time for class to start.

During class, Dong Youlin nudged Lu Dinghao with his elbow and slid his notebook over for Lu Dinghao to see.

On his brand new notebook there was one line of chicken scratch writing.

_“Do you want to watch the competition with us tonight?”_

Lu Dinghao is a good student, every night he would finish three sets of practice problems for literature, math, and english. Then he would spend another three hours reviewing biology, physics and chemistry before washing up and going to sleep.

Lu Dinghao looked at his own notebook that was filled with rows and rows of neat note-taking, then glanced again at Dong Youlin’s blank notebook. Then he reached over and wrote a “No” right under Dong Youlin’s question.

Even though it was a simple character with only four strokes, his penmanship was neat and orderly, drastically different from Dong Youlin’s own handwriting.

 

 

That night, Cai Xukun who would never leave his house to brave the cold, still ended up coming out with them. He wore a big fluffy black coat, paired with his own head of dark hair, Cai Xukun really looked like a giant black hairball. The black coat in contrast made his skin even paler.

Wang Ziyi and Dong Youlin both didn’t dress especially warm. The three of them stood in a crowd and but due to their height advantage, they did not worry about their view being blocked. But actually, aside from Wang Ziyi, the other two didn’t have much interest in watching street dance. Cai Xukun didn’t really understand it, this poster-boy perfect student really didn’t look like the type of person to have interest in this stuff.

In order to hide the fact that Dong Youlin came out to watch street dance with Wang Ziyi, the three of them decided to walk home.

Wang Ziyi reached over to stick his hand in Cai Xukun’s pocket and hold his hand. Cai Xukun immediately threw him a glare, “Let go, your hand is all sweaty.”

A chastened Wang Ziyi took his hand out and wiped it on the leg of his pants before reaching back into the pocket to hold Xukun’s hand. After a while, both their hands were sweaty again but Cai Xukun did not make a move to shake him off.

Dong Youlin didn’t really understand the relationship between them two; after all, he is someone who just came back from overseas. He didn’t have the tact to be subtle so he bluntly said out loud, “I think my deskmate is quite cute.”

“All our teachers and all the girls in our class think Lu Dinghao is cute too,” Wang Ziyi was the class president; he had to go back and forth to the office quite often and overheard what most of the faculty said about the students.

“Oh, so his name is Lu Dinghao.”

Wang Ziyi knew that when they were kids Dong Youlin was like this, but he didn’t realize that after so many years he would still be such an airhead. Just then Cai Xukun couldn’t take it anymore and asked if Ziyi could call the driver to come get them.

Dong Youlin really enjoyed the feeling of walking around town late at night. Since he was still unfamiliar with most of Luo Fu, walking around felt refreshing to him. He stopped Ziyi from leaving just yet so he could bug him more with questions regarding Lu Dinghao.

“Lu Dinghao’s biggest wish is to buy a two-story luxury condo in the building that your family owns before he is the age of 30,” since Cai Xukun couldn’t get his car ride he didn’t feel bad about messing with him a little.  “I heard him tell some girls in our class. Why don’t you gift one to him?”

Cai Xukun knew Lu Dinghao didn’t really like rich people. But Dong Youlin was the type of rich that could even say stuff like “You can come live here, I’ll get my dad to let you live here rent free.” In his eyes, gifting something like a flat to his deskmate was no different that giving a gift of an eraser.

How could Cai Xukun predict from their casual conversation at the time that at age 30, Dong Youlin would really gift an entire building to Lu Dinghao. And how could he predict that once he started holding hands with Wang Ziyi’s easily sweaty palms at age 15, every night would be like tonight, and he couldn’t let go even if he tried.

On this cold and damp January, the quiet and obedient Lu Dinghao was at his desk completing homework; unaware that the three rich kids he disliked were currently walking around and talking about his cuteness.

Walking along the cold streets, Wang Ziyi held Cai Xukun’s hand. Cai Xukun’s hand was still quite cold. Wang Ziyi remembered that his house still had some warm soup and reminded himself to deliver a bowl over to Kun tonight. Even knowing that he’ll probably have to do double the homework tonight (for himself and for Cai Xukun), he still feels extremely happy.

If in this lifetime there were only 30 years, he would still want to hold onto Cai Xukun’s hand until the very last second of those 30 years.

 

 

-tbc-

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- For those of you who have not seen the drama 'Reply 1998', the format and mood (not the plot!) of this fic is largely inspired by that series, which is why there will be moments that looks at the characters in their future adult self, but largely it will be about them in high school^^  
> \- The title of this chapter is inspired by the song CXK is described listening to called ‘If you only lived for 30 years/如果一生只有三. It’s a Cantonese indie folk song that jokes about living only for 30 years, slightly morbidly humorous lyrics^^ (link to listen)  
> \- Tiers are a way cities are classified in china based on size, revenue, population etc  
> \- Luo Fu is pronounced the same way Louvre/French Art Museum is pronounced in Mandarin  
> \- The Shanghai Stampede is an incident that happened on Dec. 31, 2014 and made headlines, the present moment when they are in school is January 2015  
> \- The incident involved an accident during a New Year’s celebration in which many deaths and injuries resulted from panic and and lack of crowd control


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a big big thank you to krystal and daph! as always, detailed explanations in end notes

**02 Reverse Pygmalion**  

Wang Ziyi has a special skill: he has the penmanship of two different people. One set of of handwriting is his own, and the other is an imitation of Cai Xukun’s. He self-taught himself this skill with practice entirely for the sake of helping Cai Xukun complete his homework.

“Why did your dad pick this time for you to transfer back?”

Dong Youlin picked a really unlucky time to transfer back. It was now the beginning of February.  The whole country was about to celebrate Lunar New Year; it was also going to be time for final exams soon. Wang Ziyi couldn’t help but ask this after he saw Dong Youlin’s notebook filled with errors and blank spots where he didn’t understand the question.

The desk next to Cai Xukun’s bed could only fit a few textbooks at once. The boys were slightly crowded together, sitting in a row to complete their homework. Originally, they were going to do this at Wang Ziyi’s house; but Wang Ziyi’s younger sister recently became obsessed with some Korean boy band. She blasted their music from their home theater all throughout the house, forcing them to choose Cai Xukun’s house instead. Although Cai Xukun’s home was large, only his bedroom had any trace of life. The rest of the house was covered in dust and even had a gloomy vibe.

Wang Ziyi simultaneously was helping Cai Xukun complete his homework and tutoring Dong Youlin on the lessons he didn’t understand. Meanwhile, Cai Xukun was sitting off to the side eating his mango shaved ice.

“My father is just that type of person that does whatever he wants.”

“Then you’re just going to have to suffer this finals period,” Wang Ziyi wrote some formulas down on Dong Youlin’s papers. “Looks like this foreigner might even fail English.”

“That’s why you need to teach me. Just looking at these problems makes my head want to explode. How do you even do double the work every day?”

Wang Ziyi also does not want to do two sets of homework. Who told the person at his side to be the kind of person who only likes to sleep and not want to do homework? He doesn’t have a choice but to do it for this person, otherwise arguing with his temper would really give Wang Ziyi a headache.

He thought this on the inside but once he turned his head he could not help but lecture, “Kun Kun don’t eat too much. The weather is so cold; if you eat too many icy things, you’re going to get a stomach ache.”

Dong Youlin bit his pen to stop himself from pointing out that Wang Ziyi was the one who bought him that shaved ice anyway. In the end, he didn’t have the heart to and just minded his own business.

Cai Xukun continued to eat just the mango bits and said to Dong Youlin, “You can ask Lu Dinghao to tutor you. His grades are good.”

Dong Youlin thought that this was not a bad idea at all.

Dong Youlin had only been back in town for a month, but his friendship with Lu Dinghao had progressed quite a bit. The Lu Dinghao that was known to be a ray of sunshine in front of other students and teachers finally decided to give attention to a rich brat like Dong Youlin. Wang Ziyi was actually quite curious about how this happened.

The normally naive and clueless Dong Youlin smiled slyly at his friends, “I told him my family was really poor.”

 

 

_“I don’t want to play with Wang Ziyi and them, why don’t you hang out with me?”_

Dong Youlin’s handwritten scrawl was still so messy it looked like you could summon a demon from reciting it out loud.

Lu Dinghao had no choice but to sneakily turn to look at him during their physics teacher’s lecture. Lu Dinghao didn’t answer him but just gave him a look of confusion.

Dong Youlin wrote another sentence down on his notebook

_“My dad works for Wang Ziyi’s father. I’m the child of their household servants. These expensive clothes are all not mine, they are hand me downs from Wang Ziyi.”_

Dong Youlin paused and thought for a bit, then he added one more line.

_“I don’t belong in their world.”_

Lu Dinghao was raised by his grandmother. His parents spoiled him with love and he was the darling of all the elders. He was always lovable and cute, but because he was so kind and had a lot of empathy for others, he was easily lied to.

 

 

Only someone like Lu Dinghao would believe this type of nonsense. In any case, Wang Ziyi’s reaction to hearing this was just to retort, “We outcasted you? You son of a servant! Give me back my notes.”

Cai Xukun almost finished the entire pan of mango shaved ice, only leaving a bit of crushed ice and mango bits floating. He wiped his mouth and teased Dong Youlin for being a flower girl.

The flower girl Cai Xukun was speaking of refers to the satirical play written by Bernard Shaw. There was an excerpt of it in their 11th grade English textbook. In the play, a poor and unrefined flower girl is mentored by a professor to pass as a noble and rich lady.

Dong Youlin’s situation was just the opposite version of this.

When Cai Xukun’s mother, Xu Manni, opened the door, the three of them were quite surprised.

Wang Ziyi and Cai Xukun were surprised because the seldom around Xu Manni, who barely comes home every three months, actually appeared. The makeup on her face looked extremely refined. Dong Youlin was surprised because Xu Manni looked so young. Her hair was styled with loose curls, and she looked more like Cai Xukun’s older sister than his mother.

“How are you guys?” Xu Manni wore a lithe short skirt and walked barefoot into the room. If she noticed the unfamiliar face of Dong Youlin, she didn’t bother to ask about it. “Son*, are you doing homework?”

Cai Xukun scowled, he felt ashamed.

“Mhmm” Cai Xukun ducked his head to avoid Xu Manni’s hand that reached out to touch his head. “How long are you going to stay for this time?”

Xu Manni seemed accustomed to this type of attitude from her son and was unbothered. “I’m just here to pick up a few outfits, and then I’m off. Call me if you don’t have enough spending money.”

Even though Xu Manni was barefoot, she still was able to keep her posture as if wearing high heels. Dong Youlin wasn’t dumb, even he could see that the relationship between Cai Xukun and his mother was not your typical bad blood between a mother and son. Cai Xukun didn’t even keep a set of spare slippers for his mother in the house

It seemed like as long as Xu Manni was in the house, Cai Xukun was uncomfortable all over. He gently nudged Wang Ziyi’s leg and said, “Let’s go out and play.”

 

 

It was only when the three of them were all dressed up and standing at the doorway of the Cai Xukun’s home did Dong Youlin bother to ask, “So where are we going?”

The three of them looked at each other blankly, no one had an answer.

This was when Dong Youlin slyly proposed something with his own ulterior motive.

“Why don’t we go play at Lu Dinghao’s house?”

 

 

When Lu Dinghao picked up the phone call, he was sitting on the couch next to his grandmother watching a drama on TV. His grandmother was particularly invested in the male lead of the drama, periodically making her own comments about how the female lead could bear to leave him for so many years.

While the TV was playing, Dong Youlin asked if he could come over to do his homework on the phone. He had a lot of homework questions he did not understand.

“Of course you can.”

 

 

Cai Xukun was standing there in his long black, down jacket., the zipper zipped up so high the jacket almost covered his small face. But once he heard Dong Youlin ask Lu Dinghao on the phone to go over and do homework, his expression gave everything away.

_What do you mean do homework?? Didn’t we already work enough inside the house?_

Wang Ziyi just kicked Dong Youlin’s leg, “You go back inside and grab the homework papers.”

At those words, Dong Youlin finally reacted, that’s right, they didn’t even bring their homework down. Cai Xukun recited his entry-code to Dong Youlin and stood there, seeming like he had no plans to go back inside either. Dong Youlin rushed in as if he was running a 100-meter race, fearing the awkwardness that would ensue if he ran into Cai Xukun’s mother.

Cai Xukun watched him from behind and found it amusing. When he smiled his eyes crinkled up and his thick eyelashes looked like little fans covering his eyes.

Wang Ziyi deliberately tugged on the collar of his clothing and squished his cheeks. “You’re happy?”

Cai Xukun didn’t respond, but he didn’t stop Wang Ziyi either. His two hands were stuck inside his pockets. He stood there unbelievably still and blinked silently at Wang Ziyi. He really was cute as hell.

He was so cute that Wang Ziyi’s heart, spleen, and kidney all had to surrender to Cai Xukun.

 

 

Lu Dinghao told his grandmother that a classmate was coming over to study with him. His grandmother got so happy, she even stopped watching the drama to start preparing snacks for them. After they finished all the preparations, to his surprise, Lu Dinghao opened the door to see three people standing there instead of one.

Lu Dinghao’s home was in a regular building. You needed to climb five flights of stairs in order to reach his place. With three people crowded in the small hallway, it seemed even smaller than usual.

When his grandmother saw that there were not one but three handsome boys standing at the door, moreover one of them was even the class president that she heard of during parent-teacher conferences, she was beyond ecstatic and immediately welcomed them inside. She prepared an exceptional amount of snacks,probably just a habit of the elderly. When they see the younger generation, they cannot stop asking if they have enough food, do you want some of this or that, always afraid that the kids don’t have enough to eat.

Seeing them sitting around his dinner table chatting noisily with his grandmother, he didn’t have the heart to stop them, so the only method was to distract his grandmother. Grandma, your drama is almost done airing!”

“Then, Xiao Fu*, you go ahead and play with your friends, don’t worry about waking up your father!”

After casually using his endearment, his grandmother exited the room, and all the eyes in the room turned to him. Lu Dinghao suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

Lu Dinghao’s extended family had a number of male cousins, but Lu Dinghao’s father really wanted a daughter. When Lu Dinghao was still in his mother’s stomach, his father said while enjoying a beer in his hand, “Since we live on Furong Street, we also must give birth to a Furong flower*”

On the day Lu Mama went into labor, Lu Baba waited anxiously for eight hours. When he heard Lu Dinghao’s first cry, he immediately stood up. Of course, on that day they did not get the daughter he was hoping for, but a healthy and smooth skinned baby boy.

The Lu’s were your typical family that married for love. After Lu Mama went through the pains of labor the first time, she refused to have another child and go through it again. Since then, everyone called Lu Dinghao by his nickname “Xiao Fu”, and no one bothered to change it even as he grew up.

 

 

There’s a huge difference between doing homework in Cai Xukun’s bedroom and doing homework in Lu Dinghao’s bedroom.

Even though the table in Cai Xukun’s room was small, the room itself was very large. Everything in the room was also white, with very little furniture. It was comparable to Xue Baochai’s snow cave*.

Lu Dinghao’s room was very different. Just by looking, it seems like it was about a quarter of the size of Cai Xukun’s room. It’s even possible that if you moved Cai Xukun’s bed into Lu Dinghao’s room, there would be no space left for anything else. Despite this, Lu Dinghao’s room was filled with a small desk, a dresser, a bed; and the walls were covered with his pictures and anime posters. He even had a wall dedicated to hanging the certificates that he had been awarded from when he was small.

Of course, Lu Dinghao’s desk was extremely small. It could only fit up to one person at a time to do work.

In the end, Dong Youlin ended up pitifully sitting alone at the desk to work on his homework. Lu Dinghao stood at his side to break down each problem step by step, all the while correcting his handwriting too.

On the other side of the room, Wang Ziyi and Cai Xukun invited themselves to sit on Lu Dinghao’s bed, one hand snacking on the hibiscus cake that Grandma made, and the other hand playing with Lu Dinghao’s checkers board game.

Hibiscus cake* is Luo Fu’s local specialty, but Cai Xukun had never had it before. The housekeeper that Xu Manni hired was familiar with his habits. Once she finished cleaning the house and prepared a meal, she would leave back to her own house. She would not have the inclination to make something like this for him. Wang Ziyi typically did not like this cake, but after seeing Cai Xukun eating piece after piece, he couldn’t help but pick one up to taste as well. Upon eating it, he realized that Grandma’s skills are even better and tastier than his own family’s housekeeper.

Lu Dinghao’s room had no heater and no air conditioner. The whole room was filled with the sounds of down comforters rustling.

Dong Youlin could not eat and could not play. With his pen on the paper he lifted his doe-eyes to look at Lu Dinghao, “Xiao Fu just look at them, they’re so annoying.”

“Do not call me Xiao Fu!!!!”

“Ah why? I think it’s really cute,” Dong Youlin’s confusing Taiwanese accent made an appearance again.

Suddenly, Lu Dinghao didn’t want to tutor him anymore. He wanted to join the other two on his bed to play checkers.

 

 

That night, they even ate dinner at Lu Dinghao’s house.

When Grandma warmly invited them to stay, Wang Ziyi and Dong Youlin actually looked at each other and felt bad for imposing. To everyone’s surprise, it was Cai Xukun that enthusiastically responded, “Okay! Thank you Grandma.”

Lu Dinghao’s mother just happened to not be at home that night, but all of them sitting at the small dining table still felt a bit crowded. Grandma cooked up many dishes for them, covering the entire dining table with food.

Lu Baba was very happy, he even joked that it was only because of the three of them that he was be able to have a good meal tonight.

Grandma’s warmth to the kids was really unimaginable. For example, once Cai Xukun finished his bowl, Grandma would immediately help him to seconds. Cai Xukun also surprisingly received it happily and thanked Grandma.

Wang Ziyi could not help but stop them, “Grandma, don’t give him too much! Just now, he ate at least four of your hibiscus cakes.”

When Grandma heard this, she seemed even happier, and scooped even more into his bowl.

 

 

When they were finally about to say goodbye that night, Cai Xukun said to Lu Dinghao, “Xiao Fu, can I come more often to have dinner at your house?”

Cai Xukun was the type of person who rarely talks, during class he would most likely be sleeping, and outside of school he is most definitely sleeping. Other emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, and joy; those sides of him seemed to only be shown to Wang Ziyi. His usual aloof and emotionless attitude made other people feel somewhat distant.  

When Lu Dinghao opened the door and saw Wang Ziyi and Cai Xukun that day, he felt a bit uneasy. He thought his own house might have seemed comparable to the size of their bathrooms in their own homes. He never expected this question to leave Cai Xukun’s mouth, so he was quite surprised.

The kind and good-hearted Lu Dinghao was surprised but still nodded.

Dong Youlin who was bent over and putting his shoes back on, slammed his foot into his shoe and shouted in a rush, “Then I also want to come too!”

 

 

After Dong Youlin entered the building to his home, Cai Xukun, who only had half a block left before reaching his own place, tugged on Wang Ziyi to stop him from going home.

“See? I was worried you were going to eat too much and overstuff yourself.”

Wang Ziyi reached inside Cai Xukun’s pocket to hold his hand so they could walk it off together and wait for his food to digest.

Inside of his pocket, Cai Xukun squeezed Wang Ziyi’s fingers. His fingers were slender and long with distinct joints. Cai Xukun liked playing with Wang Ziyi’s index finger.

“Flowers, selling flowers, does anyone want to buy my flowers~” Cai Xukun hummed while pinching Ziyi’s fingers.

“Huh?” Wang Ziyi paused after hearing Cai Xukun’s sudden accent.

“I’m copying Dong Youlin, to see if you would pick me up and take me home to teach me Mandarin.”

“Did Lu Dinghao’s house make you completely let go of yourself? Ate so much you lost your mind?”

Cai Xukun turned to face Wang Ziyi and smiled. He pursed his lips as if holding something back, “You know Lu Dinghao used to like you?”

Wang Ziyi said, “I know that. When you first got here, you would always ignore me, but once Lu Dinghao appeared, you would make the first move and start talking to me.”

Wang Ziyi noticed Cai Xukun’s little schemes early on, but he just pretended to be oblivious because he quite enjoyed it when Cai Xukun took the initiative to speak to him first.

“But he doesn’t like you anymore.”

“Yep. That’s why I can comfortably go to his house and freeload a meal.”

“So shameless.”

 

 

 

So just like this, the seemingly tangled mess of threads that were their relationships, seemed to have melted under the warmth of Grandma’s good, home-cooked meal. Those threads turned into the bonds that tied the four teenagers together, forming the starting point of their friendship.

-tbc-

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- The satirical play Xukun mentions is called “Pygmalion”, the title of this chapter is inspired by his joke  
> \- Xu Manni actually calls Xukun “Zaizai” in this scene, which is an endearment for son  
> \- The melodrama that his Grandmother is watching is called “My Sunshine” which aired in 2015  
> \- Xiao Fu is Lu Dinghao’s nickname, the Fu is the same Fu used in Fu Rong Hua which means hibiscus flower. His nickname essentially is calling him ‘little flower’  
> \- Baba, chinese term for father  
> \- Xue Baochai is a character in a classic chinese tale “Dream of the Red Chamber,” her character was known to live in a residence that was stark and bare, similar to Cai Xukun. Furthermore, her last name Xue is a homophone for “Snow” which is why her residence was known as a snow cave  
> \- Hibiscus cake is referred to in the fic as “furong gao”. I’ve never had it but there seems to be different versions of it that exist. Some definitions say it looks like a spongy cake made with some part of hibiscus flower, some say it resembles Saqima (fried flower pastry) Some definitions also refer to the snack as ‘Lotus cake’.  
> \- Fun fact the checkers game they are playing is the Chinese version of Skippity


End file.
